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Amnesty International Report: "Like we were enemies in a war” - China’s mass internment, torture and persecution of Muslims in Xinjiang.
Document (English): Like we were enemies in a war (pdf) Amnesty International
Review of document
Broad claims
| Claim # | Claim | Support or contradiction |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | massive and systematic abuses against Muslims living in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region | |
| 2 | target parts of Xinjiang’s population collectively on the basis of religion and ethnicity | |
| 3 | use severe violence and intimidation to root out Islamic religious beliefs and Turkic Muslim ethno-cultural practices | |
| 4 | replace these beliefs and practices with secular state-sanctioned views and behaviours | |
| 5 | forcibly assimilate members of these ethnic groups into a homogenous Chinese nation possessing a unified language, culture, and unwavering loyalty to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) |
More specific claims
| Claim # | Claim | Detail | Problems or contradictions | Human rights violation? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | arbitrary mass detention | |||
| 7 | facilities are more accurately described as internment camps | |||
| 8 | detainees in these camps are subjected to a ceaseless indoctrination | |||
| 9 | physical and psychological torture | |||
| 10 | prevent accurate information about the situation in Xinjiang from being documented | |||
| 11 | guilt by association | |||
| 12 | regimented | |||
| 13 | physical punishment for deviation from routine | |||
| 14 | no privacy, monitored all the time | |||
| 15 | required to speak in Mandarin | |||
| 16 | draconian restrictions | |||
| 17 | insufficient food, water, exercise, healthcare, sanitary and hygienic conditions, fresh air, and exposure to natural light | |||
| 18 | forced to sit still | |||
| 19 | sing revolutionary songs | |||
| 20 | teaching Mandarin primary objective of detention | Contradicted by witness claim 3 - “aim was to destroy religion” | ||
| 21 | indoctrination against religion | |||
| 22 | questioned and interrogated | |||
| 23 | forced to write letter of confession | |||
| 24 | required to transform their thinking | |||
| 25 | beatings | |||
| 26 | electric shocks | |||
| 27 | sleep deprivation | |||
| 28 | total absence of any transparent criteria or legal assistance and protection | |||
| 29 | process of length of time and reason not understood | Contradicted by witness claim 3 - “aim was to destroy religion” | Yes | |
| Contradicted by witness claim 2 - classifications known | ||||
| 30 | Invasive surveillance | biometric data collection, including iris scans and facial imagery | Unclear | |
| invasive interviews by government officials | ||||
| regular searches and interrogations by ubiquitous security officers | ||||
| “homestays” by government employees and cadres assigned to live with ethnic minority families | ||||
| an ever-present network of surveillance cameras, including facial recognition cameras | ||||
| a vast network of checkpoints known as “convenience police stations” | ||||
| unfettered access to people’s personal communication devices and financial history | maybe | |||
| tracking in real time | maybe | |||
| 31 | no free movement | maybe | ||
| no travel abroad | maybe | |||
| discrimination | yes |
Admissions
“finding reliable information about life inside the internment camps is particularly difficult” (p7)
Speculation
| Speculative statement | Problem |
|---|---|
| “The government relies on a nearly inescapable in-person and electronic surveillance operation designed to ensure that the behaviour of ethnic minority groups is continuously monitored and evaluated” (p11) | There is no evidence to support this, as surveillance is common across China, indeed most jurisdictions |
| “Muslims living in Xinjiang may be the most closely surveilled population in the world.” | Without a proper comparative study, this is impossible to determine. (p12) |
Witness claims
| Claim # | Claim | Sub-claim | Witness | Source Type | Contradictions or problems | Human rights violation? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WC1 | arrests | arrest, detention | Aiman | testimony | No | |
| WC2 | classified | as “suspicious” or “untrustworthy” or as a “terrorist” or an “extremist” | unknown | testimony | vague | No |
| WC3 | aim was to destroy their religion | couldn't greet with religious greeting | Yeralun | testimony | Yes | |
| could not go to Friday prayer | Yes | |||||
| not Allah, just Xi Jinping | Yes | |||||
| WC4 | must give ethnicity as Chinese | Yeralun | testimony | No | ||
| WC5 | torture | hit with a chair | Mansur | experienced | Yes | |
| WC6 | witnessed torture | restrained and immobilized, for three days, arms were cuffed and chained, legs were chained as well, body was tied to the back of the chair, locked around his wrists and legs, rubber thing attached to the ribs to make the person sit up straight | Madi | witness | Yes | |
| expressly forbidden to help him | Yes | |||||
| told us that if we helped him then we would sit in the chair | Yes | |||||
| urinate and defecate in the chair | Yes | |||||
| WC7 | death | heard person died of torture, died after taken out of cell | not witnessed | hearsay | Yes | |
| WC8 | post-education requirements | continue education after detention | Nearly all | testimony | no specific testimony from one person | No |
| WC9 | forced to publicly confess crimes | testimony | no specific testimony from one person | Maybe | ||
| WC10 | placed under both electronic and in-person surveillance | all former detainees | testimony | this would be unremarkable for someone accused of radicalisation | No | |
| WC11 | subjected to regular evaluations from government employees | testimony | this would be unremarkable for someone accused of radicalisation | No | ||
| WC12 | government employees or cadres were required to stay with them | nearly all former detainees | testimony | this may be considered unorthodox in the west | No | |
| WC13 | prohibited from leaving their village or township | testimony | this is routine for most jurisdictions where people are considered a flight risk | Maybe | ||
| WC14 | If they were allowed to leave, they were required to get written permission from the authorities beforehand. | those allowed to leave | testimony | lack of clarity over context for this | Maybe | |
| WC15 | sent from the camps to work in factories | some detainees | testimony | this would fit with the notion of vocational training | No | |
| WC16 | taught to sew in preparation for being sent to a factory | Arzu | testimony | No | ||
| WC17 | required to live and work in a factory | testimony | No | |||
| WC18 | transferred to prison | some detainees | testimony | context needed to determine if this is justified | No | |
| WC19 | lack of knowledge of process for release | testimony | context needed to determine if this is justified | Yes | ||
| WC20 | transferred to prison | some detainees | “Amnesty International was not able to interview anyone who was given a prison sentence in a camp and then sent to a prison” | context needed to determine if this is justified | Unknown | |
| WC21 | sentences forgiven | some detainees | testimony | context needed to determine if this is justified | Unknown | |
| WC22 | other people sentenced to prison | some detainees | testimony | “apparently for everyday behaviour” | Unknown | |
| WC23 | discrimination | Han didn't have to go through checkpoints | Yin | testimony | Yes | |
| WC24 | not allowed to practice religion | no praying | former detainees | testimony | Yes | |
| attending mosques | Yes | |||||
| teaching religion | Yes | |||||
| wearing religious clothing | Yes |
Highlighted cases
| Case # | Name | Assumed location | Reasons for arrest | Official reasons | How this information is known | Comments, problems or issues |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C60 | Suriye Tursun | Prison | Travelling to Turkey | Funding terrorist activities | Someone claiming to be from the Chinese embassy called | Funding terrorism is a crime in China |
| Unknown source |
Methodology
Sources of information
| Source type | Number | Source | Considerations & Criticism |
|---|---|---|---|
| first-hand testimonies from former detainees | 55 | ||
| witnesses who were in Xinjiang | 15 | ||
| family members who have relatives missing or detained | 68 | ||
| analysis of satellite data | |||
| confidential government documents analysed by journalists | |||
| confidential government documents analysed by scholars | |||
| confidential government documents analysed by human rights organisations |
Issues with methodology
Amnesty International has made no investigations into the veracity of the information provided.
Assertion 1
“The government of China has taken extraordinary measures to prevent accurate information about the situation in Xinjiang from being documented.” This is an illogical argument, since they would need to know the information first before being able to judge whether it was accurate. So this statement can be disregarded as an assertion without evidence.
Assertion 2
“Anyone living in Xinjiang who speaks out about the internment camps, is perceived to have spoken out, is accused of speaking out, or is affiliated with anyone who has spoken out, risks detention, arrest, imprisonment, torture, and enforced disappearance, not only for themselves but also for their family members.” In order to make this assertion, Amnesty International would need to survey and document a large number of people to find out if they had spoken out. This has not been done.
Assertion 3
References used in report
| Ref # | Source | Statement supports | Evidence for human rights abuse? | Comments and criticism | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R1 | Xinjiang Victims Database, shahit.biz/eng/#filter | no giving out details | No | procedural matter only | |
| R2 | John Sudworth, BBC News, “China’s pressure and propaganda – the reality of reporting Xinjiang,” 15 January 2021, ; | denied “unfettered access” | No | procedural matter; completely subjective as to the meaning of “unfettered”; selective 1) | |
| Andrew McCormick, Columbia Journalism Review, “How extensive restrictions have shaped the story in Xinjiang, China,” 16 October 2018, ; | No | ||||
| Matt Schiavenza, Asia Society, “Why It’s So Difficult for Journalist To Report from Xinjiang,” 23 May 2019, ; | No | ||||
| Human Rights Watch, “China’s **Weak** Excuse to Block Investigations in Xinjiang: Ambassador Claims ‘Unreasonable, Unnecessary Obstacles’ Prevent UN Visit,” 25 March 2020, | No | 2) Conclusion before evidence | |||
| R3 | Robin Barnwell and Gesbeen Mohammad, PBS Frontline, “China Undercover,”7 April 2020, www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/china/undercover/ | “coordinated effort to prevent speaking to locals | No | This is completely dependent on what access one thinks a journalist should have; vloggers and citizen journalists who have had access not interviewed or cited | |
| Isobel Yeung, Vice News, [[www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7AYyUqrMuQ | “China’s Vanishing Muslims: Undercover in the Most Dystopian Place in the World,” | No | Fairness 3) |
1)
Highly selective choice of journalists, human rights investigators; citizen journalists and vloggers ignored
2)
This article makes a judgement that Xinjiang tours will lack credibility; tours are considered “highly controlled” - however, how does one determine if a tour is highly controlled without knowing what is supposedly being “hidden”?
3)
How is it possible to make this judgement after such a short time?
like_we_were_enemies_in_a_war.txt · Last modified: 2021/07/22 00:21 by admin
